Bystanders Apprehend Alleged Purse Snatcher

Several citizens apprehended a man Tuesday after police say he stole a woman’s purse in front of a business on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard. 

While investigating the purse snatching, police determined he was involved in the burglary of an Albemarle Road residence earlier that evening.

Dustin Andrew Carroll, 20, of Millbrook Road, Columbia, is charged with purse snatching and second-degree burglary, according to police spokesman Charles Francis. Carroll is also wanted by Columbia Police for armed robbery.  

Police say this is what happened: About 6 p.m., a woman walked out of the Dollar Tree at 1401 Sam Rittenberg Boulevard when a man in bloody clothes approached her and asked for money. 

The victim took $5 out of her purse to give him, but the suspect allegedly snatched the money and the purse out of her hands and ran, Francis said.

Several citizens saw this and chased the suspect. They caught him and held him until the police arrived. The suspect said he was bloody because his brother stabbed him in the hand earlier that morning in Columbia. 

During the investigation of the purse snatching, police determined the suspect matched the description of a man involved in the burglary of an Albemarle Road residence, Francis said.

Here's how the burglary went down: About 4:40 p.m., a man saw a strange car parked in his next door neighbor’s driveway on Albemarle Road, police allege. He approached the car and spoke with a woman who said she was interested in buying his neighbor’s sailboat. She asked if he knew his neighbor’s telephone number. He didn’t and returned home to get it.

He then saw a white male between 20 and 30 years old, about 6 feet tall, with short hair, wearing khaki shorts and a white shirt walk out of his neighbor’s residence carrying a camouflage colored gun case. The suspect is also alleged to have stolen several pieces of jewelry.

The investigation is ongoing.